Introduction
We all remember being a child on what seemed like an end­less journey to grandma’s house or the Grand Canyon and asking “Are we there yet?” In America’s cities and towns, we are having one of those “Are we there yet?” moments — although it seems the GPS is malfunctioning and we have lost the ability to chart a course toward our future.
What does “there” look like? How will we know when we are “there”? What are the critical investments we need to make in order to strengthen our regional economies and ensure that America remains globally competitive? What are the attributes of communities and regions that help the people who live and work there succeed? How can we ensure that every child – regardless of what zip code they are born into or the color of their skin — has access to opportunities to improve their lives and contribute to America’s prosperity?
America is confronting serious issues in this second decade of the 21st century: The gap…

The topic of barrier-free access is of great importance in Dresden. Dresden has a population of over 508,000 inhabitants, more than 60,000 of whom have a disability. Demographic changes and an increase in the number of older people mean the number of people with disabilities continues to increase.

The growth machine framework maintains that coalitions of elites work together to promote and adopt policies and practices that best serve their economic interests and propel cities toward growth. While numerous scholars have subjected the growth machine to theoretical and empirical tests, we know little about the beliefs and perspectives of individual actors within the growth machine. To address this gap in the literature, the present research uses in-depth interviews to examine the subjective views of one segment of the growth machine—real estate professionals. The findings demonstrate that these practitioners see the exercise of power at the local level to be less coordinated, consensus-driven, and growth-oriented than the growth machine thesis suggests. Specifically, they see their own power and capacity to act to be constrained by four factors: the (re)-election interests of politicians; the professional interests of municipal economic development staff; bureaucratic procedures…

A three-wave longitudinal survey of a cohort of North Dakota State University (NDSU) students who matriculated in the fall of 2005 was conducted to investigate changing attitudes and travel behaviors. The longitudinal framework allowed for investigation of individual as opposed to group changes in behavior. The third wave of the survey found that most fourth-year NDSU students live off campus and nearly all of those who do have access to automobiles. One-third of off-campus students use transit to commute to campus occasionally while two-thirds have used the bus to travel between their residence and campus at least once. Students identified cost savings, convenience, reducing traffic congestion and parking demand as the primary benefits of transit. In the future, two-thirds of students stated that they will ride transit occasionally or regularly. Among those surveyed, 64% of students stated that they would at the least consider voting for increased funding for transit. A mixed…

More than 3,000 transit-rich neighborhoods (TRNs) in U.S. metropolitan areas have fixed-guideway transit stations and hundreds more such neighborhoods could be created over the next decade if current plans for new transit systems and stations are realized. Americans are increasingly using transit and showing more interest in living in transit-rich neighborhoods. For neighborhood and equity advocates from Atlanta to Seattle and Minneapolis to Houston, however, this good news is tempered by a growing concern about gentrification and displacement. Will current neighborhood residents, many of them low income and/or people of color, benefit from planned transit stations? Or will they be displaced by wealthier and less diverse residents lured not only by transit but also by the other amenities that come with transit-induced neighborhood revitalization?

The report begins by describing “Ten Core Connections” among TOD, families, and schools relevant to creating complete communities and ensuring ensure high quality educational opportunities for all children. We then describe the unique demographic and policy context in which schools and school districts operate in California. From there, we present and analyze the experiences from five Bay Area TOD planning processes. These case studies illustrate a range of issues and represent different points in a planning and development time frame. Combined with our years of research in the region, these exploratory case studies guided our development of the “Ten Core Connections” between TOD and education, and informed the findings that conclude the paper.

In nearly all U.S. metropolitan areas, jobs have been moving to the suburbs for several decades. In the largest metropolitan areas between 1998 and 2006, jobs shifted away from the city center to the suburbs in virtually all industries. As the U.S. population also continues to suburbanize, larger proportions of metropolitan area employment and population are locating beyond the traditional central business districts along the nation’s suburban beltways and the more distant fringes.

Transit-oriented development (TOD) and its effect on property values research has resulted in mixed findings. Some researchers report positive effects on property values while others are negative or inconclusive. Research on cities such as New York City, Boston, Atlanta and San Francisco have focused on the proximity to rail stations and the negative externalities that accompany it by conducting hedonic pricing models. Other studies have focused more specifically on residential or commercial parcels and their property values at different time points of station development.

There are 10 schools within the Tysons study area. At present, 4 schools are over capacity. In five years, 2 additional schools are projected to be over capacity for a total of 6 schools over capacity. Over the past two years, FCPS has experienced a significant increase in enrollment (5,000+ students) and anticipates a continuation of such growth.